Taiwanese lefty to make debut against Yankees

Taiwanese pitcher Chen Wei-yin is set to make his debut for the Baltimore Orioles as the fifth starter against the New York Yankees on Wednesday at home, Orioles manager Buck Showalter said yesterday.

Showalter announced the season’s starting rotation yesterday after an exhibition match, and said the 26-year-old left-hander would be the Orioles’ fifth starter after Jake Arrieta, Jason Hammel, Tommy Hunter and Brian Matusz. The announcement ended up being different from an earlier prediction by the Baltimore Sun, which said Chen was likely to be the second starter and would debut against the Minnesota Twins in a Major League Baseball (MLB) matchup on Sunday.

However, the Kaohsiung native said in a recent interview that the starting order did not really matter to him since his goal was to earn a spot in the rotation. Chen went 2-2 with a 3.60 earned-run average over 20 innings in five spring starts this year, yielding 19 hits and four walks and striking out nine.

The Orioles’ home opener will take place tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s right-handed pitcher Wang Chien-ming of the Washington Nationals is likely to return to the team later this month from a hamstring strain, manager Davey Johnson told the US media on Wednesday.

If Wang can return as scheduled, he might take on Chen next month or in June in interleague play between the Nationals and the Orioles for the first time in an MLB game.

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